March 15, 2011

Suruttai Poli for Indian Cooking Challenge

The challenge for the month of February was Suruttai Poli, the recipe given by Nithya's mom. Srivalli also gave the recipe link at Pavithra's who has blogged the same sometime back. The recipe is a simple one. The only challenge is to fry the pooris soft and roll them before they turn crisp. I made with 1 cup of flour. So it was easy. When it is to made in large quantities, it will be better if you have another person to tag along. So while one rolls the pooris, the other can fry and fold it. Else it will be very time consuming. I went through Pavithra's recipe and noted the tips given by her. It was very helpful. Also I went by her measurements for the filling, which was enough for the polis I made. Even if you have some left over filling powder, you can simply eat it as it is or add some warm ghee over and roll it into ladoos.

I like to finish the whole work in one batch. So I prepared the dough and left it to rest for half an hour. Meanwhile, did the filling. And I could finish the whole process in less than an hour.

You need

For filling -

Roasted gram/Pottukadalai/ - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Cashews,broken into bits - 1 tblspn

Cardamom powder - 1 tsp

Fresh grated coconut - 1 tblspn

Ghee - 2 tsp

For Papad/Poori

Maida (all purpose flour) - 1 cup

Salt - a pinch

Oil - for frying

Water to prepare the dough

Extra maida for dusting

Method for filling:

Powder the roasted gram and sugar together. Heat 2 teaspoons of ghee in a pan. Roast the cashews bits and coconut till it starts to brown. Remove from fire. Add the powdered mix and stir to mix well. Transfer to a bowl. Filling is ready.

Making pooris and the final assembly
Take all purpose flour and salt in a bowl. Prepare the dough by adding water in parts. The consistency is that of the chapathi dough. Leave it aside for half an hour.

Divide the dough into 12 balls. Roll each ball into thin pooris. Make sure it is not thick, else will puff up like a normal poori. These pooris should not puff and small bubble like puffs here and there is fine.

Roll all the pooris and leave it on a paper to dry.

Heat oil in a kadai. When the oil is hot, adjust the heat to medium. Start with the pooris rolled first. Gently slide the poori into the hot oil. don't press it using the spatula, since it will puff up. Also ladle oil over the poori from the sides. Don't flip the poori. Frying each poori should take only few seconds. Drain and leave it on a plate. Quickly spread a heaped tablespoon of the filling on to the poori and start rolling from one end.

The poori will be very soft at this stage. By the time you roll, you can feel it getting crisp. On cooling, it will turn crisp. The polis were very tasty and it got over with in a day.

While everyone can use frugal cooking tips, no one needs to cut back on food costs more than a mom. When you have kids to feed, it becomes even more important that you provide them with cheap, nutritious food. Gone are the days when ramen noodles could sustain you for months . . . now you need healthy food on a tight budget!